1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an in-sink dishwasher for automatically washing household dishes without requiring the physical space of a built-in automatic dishwasher. The invention further relates to an in-sink dishwasher having a small form factor latch for holding a lid of the dishwasher in a closed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In-sink dishwashers use the bowl of a sink to form part of the dishwasher housing that defines a wash chamber, with the open top of the bowl providing access to the wash chamber. A liquid recirculation system sprays wash liquid throughout the wash chamber to clean any dishes placed therein. A lid covers the open top of the bowl when the in-sink dishwasher is being used to prevent the splashing or spraying of the recirculating wash liquid out of the open top of the bowl.
It is desirable to secure the lid to the sink or surrounding cabinet during the operation of the dishwasher to prevent the opening of the lid while the liquid is recirculated in the wash chamber.
In traditional front-loading dishwashers, a latch is used to secure the door. The latch preferably includes a manual release for the user to open the door, even during a wash cycle. The manual release is preferably coupled to a stop switch that stops the wash cycle if the lid is opened during a wash cycle.
It is desirable to also use a latch for securing the door of the in-sink dishwasher. There are several design criteria unique to the in-sink dishwasher that make using a latch more difficult than the traditional front-loading dishwashers: the lid is top-mounted and the sink is mounted within a traditional cabinet structure, with very little space between the sink and the cabinet face. The top mounting of the lid prevents the depth of the cabinet from being used for receiving part of the latch structure as is common in front-opening traditional dishwashers. For aesthetic and installation simplicity, it is not desirable to have any part of the latch extend through the cabinet face. It is desirable to keep the manual operability of the latch and to place the latch at the front of the in-sink dishwasher for easy access by the user. These constraints make it highly desirable to place the latch in the area between the sink and the cabinet face where there is very little usable space. The desire to have full functionality in the latch exacerbates the space issue since prior latch designs often relied on complex mechanical linkages that required a relative large space.